PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

Nationally, since 1991, five students have been killed and many others injured when clothing, especially coat drawstrings, snagged in handrails as they stepped off school buses. The students were dragged and subsequently run over as the school bus moved forward. During the past several years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued news releases advising the directors of pupil transportation about the hidden safety problem in some school buses that could put youngsters at risk for injury or death.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the School Bus Partnership was to lower the risk of injury to children as they step off school buses. Specific objectives included:

Ensuring that all public and private schools have inspected, repaired and/or replaced handrails that may snag clothing as students step off school buses

Informing and educating all school bus drivers on potential hazards of students exiting buses

Encouraging parents, Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) and other local groups to talk to children about school bus safety rules

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Region VIII offices of NHTSA, the Department of Education and each state's Highway Safety Office worked together to send out safety packets to every Superintendent of Schools and Director of Pupil Transportation in the states comprising Region VIII. These include Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. Each packet contained a school bus recall fact sheet, a parent advisory notice, a bus driver handout, a comprehensive report on the agency's recall actions, a hotline

School Bus Partnership (cont'd)

vehicle owner's questionnaire, a NHTSA customer service contact list, and the bus schematic from each school bus manufacturer. NHTSA, the Department of Education, and the Highway Safety Offices asked the Superintendents of Schools and Directors of Pupil Transportation to add the inspection of school bus handrails to their regular annual school bus inspections. They also requested these officials to provide additional training to both school bus drivers and students. Schools were able to use the materials from the safety packets as well as their own materials to educate parents, students and school bus drivers. Some schools incorporated the new materials into annual school bus rodeos for bus drivers. These rodeos tested driver skills and provided drivers with updated safety information.

RESULTS

Approximately 850 school bus safety information packets were sent to Superintendents of Schools and Directors of Transportation throughout Region VIII states. Inspection and any necessary repair of handrails has taken place at approximately 80 to 90 percent of schools in the region. The remaining 10 to 20 percent of schools are expected to complete inspection by the end of the school year. Schools have reported using the training materials and educating both students and drivers, but statistics on the number of training programs conducted have not been compiled.